


Burn

by magicmars



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:20:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27513706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicmars/pseuds/magicmars
Summary: Angela Ziegler was tired. As someone who always advocated for peace and non-violent approaches to things, she was donned Overwatch's "Guardian Angel". She had saved countless lives, both on and off the battlefield, but she was growing exhausted with her senior commanders and their incessant strikes on omnic-riddled areas. But what happens when the strikes suddenly stop, and what does this mean for the future of Overwatch - and Angela?Moira O'Deorain was a renowned scientist, known for striving for any sort of scientific developments - by any means necessary. One controversial paper later, and her support had all but dwindled. Struggling to stay afloat in the world of genetics and unable to financially support further research, she had nowhere to go - until she was offered a position in Overwatch's covert-ops division, "Blackwatch". Now with as much funding as her heart desires, what conclusions will be drawn from her research, and how will she benefit Overwatch as a whole?When their worlds collide, these two polar opposites must learn to work together for the greater good of Overwatch. Unfortunately, such is easier said than done, and both women have their fair share of struggles. How will their story unfold?
Relationships: Moira O'Deorain/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Burn

Guardian Angel. That was always the phrase that people associated her with: Guardian Angel. And honestly, how could they not? Her entire gimmick included a halo and wings, she sought to protect those in peril and always heavily advocated for peace over violence - she was the perfect candidate for such a title. Just the same as the man who recruited her to Overwatch in the first place, Dr. Angela Ziegler had become one of the organization's top representatives under her moniker Mercy. The name that tied together the whole facade. She had grown used to strangers approaching her on the streets, commending her for her work and asking for a photograph, asking her to sign their belongings and the many, many men who would unsuccessfully try to ask her on a date. But she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up this charade.

As the chaos within the world became unrelenting, Angela grew restless. She had been a part of Overwatch for years now, a decision that she could never fully decide if she regretted or not. She obviously loved the opportunities to help people but felt that all of the violence unfolding around her could be avoided. Ideally, there would be no people in _need_ of help, but Overwatch’s continued strikes around the globe meant that more and more innocent civilians got caught in the crossfire, a mess that was usually left for Angela to clean. She was about to reach her breaking point, but as suddenly as the strikes had started happening, they stopped. She stopped hearing reports of the casualties on the local news stations. She stopped being invited to meetings where they would plan the details of their next mission. As far as she was aware, said meetings were not happening at all. It’s as if a switch had been flipped in Overwatch’s inner council.

She was sat in her laboratory provided to her by Overwatch, a facility which she tried to maintain as best as she possibly could, always making sure to keep it spotless and organized. She had been working on a new prototype of her patented Valkyrie suit, a project that she had started over a year ago. She gave several presentations to her commanding officers about the progress of the suit, stemming from the blueprints she designed and the first steps she took to make it a reality, to the live demonstrations of the various prototypes she had engineered herself. A breakthrough was near, she could feel it - but she desperately needed a break. She sighed and tucked a few loose strands of her platinum blonde locks behind her ear, rising from her desk. She began towards her personal quarters attached to the laboratory and grabbed a kettle from a nearby cabinet, preparing to fill it with hot water, when just outside her door she saw a daunting figure walking past. She set her kettle down and quickly went to rush after the man in the hall.

“Gabriel, wait!” She called after him, her heels clacking against the tiles of the floor. The man looked over his shoulder and greeted Angela with a quick, somewhat forced smile.

“Good evening, Angela. Did you need me for something?” The husky man slowed his pace a bit but never came to a complete stop. He had a look of urgency on his face, wanting to accommodate the doctor but needing to stay focused on the task at hand.

“Where on earth have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks.” Angela did her best to keep up, but even at a reduced speed, Gabriel made large strides with each step he took as if trying to avoid this conversation altogether.

“I’ve been quite busy attending to important matters that don’t directly involve you. I’m sure the sudden lack of… well, anything happening around here has confused you quite a bit. I wish I could stop and tell you everything that’s happening right now, to just be able to give you all the answers you want. But unfortunately, I can’t. It isn’t my call to make at this point in time. All I know is that I have somewhere I need to be and people I need to meet with. I’m really sorry Angela, I wish I had time to stop and chat, but I don’t.” There seemed to be a bit of remorse in his voice, but his determination did not waver. He picked up his pace once more, and before Angela could think of a good reply, he had turned down the hall and pressed on towards his destination with no regard for the doctor anymore.

Angela let out a deep sigh and turned around to head back the way she came when she spotted another figure who appeared to be headed in the same direction Gabriel had been. However, this figure she did not recognize. Gabriel, being the second-in-command to Jack Morrison, was someone who Angela had known for years. She had learned to recognize him from the blurs of black that would dart past her during busy operations, the heavy sounds of his footsteps as he paced back and forth, the sharp tone in his bellowing voice that she could decipher from several rooms away. She knew the people he associated with, and this mysterious figure was not one of them. She didn’t feel herself slowing down as she began to examine the individual more closely.

The first thing that piqued Angela’s interest was the woman’s height. Standing at 5’7” herself, she wasn’t used to seeing many women taller than her within the organization, but the woman before her seemingly towered over her. As the woman drew nearer, Angela noticed her short, coppery-red hair that was brushed deftly to either side of her face and tucked under a black beret, as well as her mismatched eyes - one red, one blue. With such unique features, Angela was sure she had seen this person before, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it…

“Pardon me. I have important matters I must attend to,” the woman spoke boldly in a very faint accent. It was at that moment that Angela realized she had brought herself to a complete halt in the middle of the hallway.

“My apologies, I… lost track of where I was going.” She looked the woman up and down, noticing the figure staring down condescendingly at her.

“I can tell. Now, remove yourself from my path. I need to get going.”

Angela took another moment to compose herself, and without another word stepped to the side to allow the taller woman to pass. As the individual rushed past her, she took one last look back at her before traveling the rest of the way back to her quarters.

Angela had spent the rest of the evening trying to make more progress on the Valkyrie suit, but instead finding herself distracted. Who exactly _was_ that woman, and what authority did she have to talk down to Angela like that? She had never encountered anyone quite as rude as the mysterious woman had been. _A simple ‘excuse me’ would have sufficed,_ Angela thought to herself many times. It wasn’t until the clock rang midnight that she finally decided to stop trying for the night and instead opted to get some rest. She shrugged off her lab coat and changed into some tattered pajamas before turning out the lights and climbing into bed, the vision of her earlier encounter still haunting her.

*****

The next morning, Angela awoke at 6:00 on the dot, her alarm clock blaring to the side of her. She groggily disabled the alarm and rose out of her bed, neatly making it before proceeding to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She had mostly forgotten about the previous night’s encounter with the red-headed stranger, instead only remembering her brief encounter with Gabriel. She pondered his words from the previous night as she brushed her teeth. _‘I have somewhere I need to be and people I need to meet with’_ , Angela played back in her mind. Given how late at night it was when their brief meeting happened, it wasn’t exactly possible for him to have been meeting with other senior agents. In fact, to Angela’s knowledge, all of the senior agents should’ve been asleep by then - including Gabriel. She decided not to linger on the subject any longer and instead pushed forward with her morning routine.

Angela beelined to the coffee maker in her kitchenette and began to brew herself a cup to help her survive the morning. Her quarters filled with the scent of fresh, hot coffee - a familiar scent to her, but still a calming one nonetheless. As the coffee was being filtered and strained into the glass pot, Angela reached into a nearby cabinet to grab her favorite mug. The white mug, having been scuffed and scratched from several years of use, read ‘Self Medicating’ in bold, black letters with a red cross above the words. She recalled fondly receiving the mug as a gift from Captain Ana Amari, alongside the coffee machine, after Ana had noticed Angela having trouble staying awake in the mornings.

As if on cue, the door to Angela’s quarters was knocked on - two times, gentle but in quick succession, a pattern she learned to recognize meant that Ana was on the other side of the door. “Come in,” Angela shouted behind her shoulder. She removed the glass pot, which was now full of coffee, from where it was sat on the coffee maker. She poured herself some of the fresh coffee, filling her mug almost completely to the top before returning the pot to its previous resting spot.

“Good morning, Angela. I hope this is not too early for me to stop by,” Ana said apologetically. She was a bit quiet and sounded rightfully tired, given how early it was and the fact that the sun hadn’t even risen yet. “How are you doing this morning?”

Angela finished taking a sip from her coffee before setting the mug down on the counter to reply, “I’m doing just fine, thank you. How about yourself?” She flashed a sleepy smile towards the captain.

“I am doing great, thanks for asking.” Ana returned the smile before continuing, “I wanted to talk to you briefly about Gabriel.”

Angela’s head perked up at the sound of Gabriel’s name being mentioned. “I ran into him last night, he seemed… very hurried. It was a bit strange,” Angela recounted to Ana. She took another small sip of her coffee and continued, “I would’ve expected him to have been asleep, not running around the halls late at night.” She shrugged her shoulders slightly.

“Yes, he gave me a quick brief on his encounter with you last night, and I figured I should probably keep you in the loop on a few changes we’ve made in the past few weeks. However, before I say anything to you, please bear in mind that this information is confidential and only being revealed to a very select few agents - which is why it took so long for us to decide to share it with you.” Angela simply nodded, with Ana taking this as a sign to continue. “I’m sure you’ve noticed you haven’t been invited to our most recent meetings,” she began, taking a brief pause to consider her next words carefully, “and we are genuinely sorry for that. We should’ve kept you at least a little bit informed, considering you are one of the core members of this organization.” Ana’s voice was filled with remorse, but she pressed on, “However, we thought it would be better to keep you out of the loop - at least for the beginning - while we continued to sort things out.” She took a quick look at Angela to make sure she was still listening before she spoke again. “The most recent meetings have only consisted of myself, Gabriel, and Jack. We needed to weigh our options on how to proceed with Overwatch’s existence, given we’ve come under a lot of scrutiny from the public in more recent months. Obviously, we aren’t just going to completely disband, especially with everything that is happening in the world right now. But we knew we needed to step back - as you know, we had been conducting several strikes around the world in areas that were still being heavily terrorized by omnics that wanted to wage another war. You’re also surely aware of the casualties of innocent civilians that occurred because of these strikes. This obviously drew a lot of negative attention to us, and we were heavily chastised by the U.N. for how these strikes played out. They threatened to cut off our funding if we were to continue them, and have strictly forbidden us from carrying them out any further. However, you know as well as I do that we can’t just sit back and do nothing. If nobody tries to stop the violence from omnics seeking out war, there will be far more lives lost.”

Angela looked quizzically at Ana. “Well, what _can_ we do then?” By this point in time, Angela had nearly finished her coffee, resolving to refill her mug with the remainder of the glass pot’s contents. She took a final sip before her mug was empty and shuffled to the counter where the coffee maker was stationed, grabbing the pot and pouring the rest of the coffee into her mug.

Ana continued as Angela shimmied back into place, “We decided during these meetings that we would make a new subdivision of Overwatch to handle covert operations that have a higher risk factor. This subdivision is called Blackwatch, and it is being led by Gabriel. No one aside from myself, Jack, Gabriel, you and the members of Blackwatch know about its existence, and we plan to keep it that way.”

Angela was wildly confused by this revelation. _Blackwatch? Why is a covert-ops subdivision necessary?_ She thought to herself and pursed her lips, unable to find a good way to respond.

Ana took Angela’s silence as a means to continue on. “This way, Overwatch ‘officially’ is not participating in any high-risk missions that would bring harsh criticism from the media, but we can still intervene in areas where tensions between omnics and humans remain at extreme levels.”

Angela just shook her head in disbelief. “Why is this a decision you would make without me? I feel like as the head combat medic, I have just as much of a right as you do to get a say in this ‘covert-ops’ subdivision, and you already know how dangerous it is for you to be-”

“Angela. Please. Take a deep breath.” Ana abruptly cut the doctor off before she worked herself up too much. “We didn’t include you in the decision because we knew you’d be opposed to it from the beginning, but it’s something we felt was necessary in order to progress closer to a normal civilization again.” Ana had remorse in her voice, genuinely apologetic that she deliberately chose not to include Angela in this whole process, but reminded herself that it’s what she needed to do for the greater good.

At this response, Angela just sighed deeply and looked up at Ana. “Who even are the members? How many are there?”

“For security reasons, I cannot disclose officially how many agents are in Blackwatch. I can, however, tell you that there are four main agents involved in it, one of which is Gabriel and one of which is Genji Shimada - I’m sure you remember him. The other two are new members who were recruited by Gabriel recently specifically for Blackwatch, and thus you most likely haven’t met them yet. That will change soon, though, as we’ll be arranging an official meeting for you to be introduced to them properly.

Angela nodded, a wave of relief slowly washing over her at the fact that at least this ‘Blackwatch’ thing is in good hands. “I suppose I should thank you for choosing to inform me of all of this now, although I would’ve preferred hearing about it a lot sooner.”

Ana sighed and nodded back at Angela. “I know. I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you sooner, but I’ll do my best to keep you in the loop going forward.”

Angela smiled softly at the older woman before asking, “So when will this meeting be?”

“Not sure yet,” Ana stated with a shrug. “I’ll contact you as soon as I have information regarding it. For the time being though, I think I’ve talked your ear off enough for now, especially considering how early it is. I’ll let you get back to doing whatever it was you were doing before I arrived. Thank you for letting me have this chat with you.” Ana smiled at Angela and headed towards the door, only turning back to politely wave goodbye to Angela, a gesture that was eagerly returned.

The door to her quarters closed, and Angela let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Despite Ana’s reassurances, she wasn’t really sure how to feel about this whole thing. She just shrugged and took a seat at the nearby dining table, the vintage wooden chair creaking beneath her weight. _I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we get there_ , she thought to herself before finishing off her coffee and heading to her lab.

*****

The next few days were rather uneventful for Angela, her being entirely unable to fully dedicate herself to her work. With her mind still stuck on this whole ‘Blackwatch’ thing, she’s been too anxious to make any real progress. Perhaps it was also the lack of sleep she was getting, as every night she pushed herself harder and harder in order to make some sort of progress, to feel at least _somewhat_ useful, but it was to no avail, and all it had done was make Angela feel completely restless. Just as she was about to rise from her desk and give herself a much-needed break, her communicator assigned to her by Overwatch began vibrating on her nightstand.

Angela rose from her desk with a lengthy stretch and made her way over to the communicator, picking it up and answering the call in one swift motion. “Dr. Ziegler speaking, how may I help you?” She tried her best to sound awake and alert, but she was certainly struggling.

“Good morning, Angela. This is Captain Amari.” Angela let out a sigh of relief at the gentle voice coming from the other side of the communicator. “I am calling to let you know of plans for you to officially meet the agents of Blackwatch. I had to work some details out with Gabriel and Jack, but everything has been cleared. Are you free tonight?”

“Well,” Angela began, “I’ve been trying to make some substantial progress on the Valkyrie suit, and I should probably keep trying to work on it… but damn it, I just can’t. I’ve been so restless.” She let out a long, exhausted sigh before continuing, “What I’m trying to say is yes, I’ll be available. I’ll be incredibly tired, but I’ll be there.”

Angela could practically hear the smile form on Ana’s face through the communicator. “Excellent. Expect to be up in Gabriel’s office by 18:00. And don’t keep him waiting, you know how he gets.”

“I understand. I will see you in a few hours.” And with that, the call was ended and the communicator was carelessly tossed onto Angela’s bed. “How the hell am I going to make myself presentable?” She walked to the nearby bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, her hair completely disheveled and the bags under her eyes darker than they’d ever been. She shook her head, appalled that she let herself reach this state. After making a mental note to take better care of herself in the future, she looked at the clock and began planning out her day - it was about to be a long few hours.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is something that has been sitting in my Google Docs drafts for about 5 months now. I kept working on it on and off, starting over a few times because I wasn't pleased with how it was coming out, but I finally decided on what direction I intended to take it (at least starting out) and cranked out this chapter. This is the first fic I'm posting that isn't entirely inspired by something else, rather just ideas stemming from my own imagination, so I'm a little nervous about it. I don't know what direction I plan to take this fic going forward or how often I will update it, but I at least wanted to post the first chapter here. Any feedback is greatly appreciated :) Also, please note that if this fic continues to update, the tags will update as well - I just don't really have a solid plan and am finding things out as I go. Hope you enjoy :)


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